Our photo seminar in Singapore was a whirl-wind affair. Each day, prior to the seminar, various members of the Nature Photo Society of Singapore escorted us to some of Singapore's premiere spots -- from a Baya weaver nest colony to the world-famous Singapore Zoo. Rest wasn't an option, and we were quite appreciative of the scouting opportunity we enjoyed both before and after the seminar.
Immediately
after the seminar, however, Mary and I, accompanied by Foo Sai
Khoon and Graeme Guy from the Nature Photo Society headed to Sepalok
orang-utan preserve in NE Borneo. Sepalok is a rehabilitation
facility where orphaned or confiscated orangs are returned to
the wild in a series of steps. There is one viewing area available
to the public, with wooden platforms that serve as the twice daily
feeding areas for the orangs, and with rope bridges the primates
use as they come in from the forest. Neither, as you can imagine,
are conducive to quality natural-looking shooting.
This Baya weaver was nesting in a rural area of Singapore. Males make one or a series of funnel-like nests in hopes of attracting a female. Fong Chee Wia, the president of the Singapore Nature Photo Society, generously donated his time to take me to the nest one morning, and together we fried in the morning light. Well, I did -- I sure wasn't used to the heat!
This
was one of the most unusual animal behaviors I've ever seen. A
young short-tailed or curly-tailed Macaque monkey was being groomed
by its mother and by a female long-tailed Macaque monkey that
associated itself with the troop. Sometimes various species of
monkeys will forage together and share the same tree or feeding
source, but I've never seen grooming, and such toleration, between
species.
We ran into a major hassle at Sepalok, where the manager tried to assess a $300/day charge for photographing the orangs. 'Normal' photography was permitted for a modest $3 fee, but for cameras over 300mm in length a special charge might be assessed. We had 120-300mm lenses, so we weren't special, but we had flashes attached, and even more conspicuous, tripods, that singled us out.
Quite frankly, the photography did not warrant any type of over-charge. While gorilla viewing in Rwanda is now up to $375/day for a one-hour visit, there is simply no comparison between the two. The mountain gorillas is a true wildlife encounter; the orangs was a poor semi-captive experience. We were asked to present business cards or letters stating that we were bankers or professors or whatever, which none of us had. Ironically, if I were a high school biology teacher on a vacation, and a serious photographer, I know that my business card would say 'nature photographer' and not 'high school biology teacher.' We were told that we should have alerted them that we were coming, even though we had asked for or requested any special services. I asked the manager if she registers in Los Angeles with the police, just letting them know she's coming and she's not a criminal. I don't know if she got my point.
Conditions psychologically were tough, and the setup and 'habitat' of the orangs was poor and left few chances for really wild looking images. At 10AM and 3PM, when the orangs are fed, the platform area is absolutely, brutally hot. Often I had to rely completely on AF since my glasses were blurry with streaked sweat or fogged up from evaporation. Water literally poured off of us, and we had to be careful about dehydration. While we did get some OK images, Sepalok was a major disappointment, not only for the lack of quality shooting but also for the strong arm tactics we encountered.
We
also went to a private reserve for Proboscis Monkeys. That was
rewarding, although the working distance required 600mm lenses
or more. As many as 100 monkeys come into a feeder at 11AM and
4PM, and the later feeding is definitely more productive, since
the monkeys began gathering in anticipation long before feeding.
Stupidly, I lost some of the best material when I was attempting
to download images to the computer that evening. I inserted the
card in the card reader, opened it on the lap top, and then closed
the card before dragging it over. I shot 3 gigs that day, and
in the interest of efficiency I immediately reformatted the card
after 'downloading.' Of course, I hadn't downloaded that card.
Fortunately Mary shot film and she did get some great shots of
the monkeys backlighted -- but those are images that will haunt
me. And another lesson learned about digital shooting!
From Borneo we flew to a turtle island where 5-20 green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles lay their eggs each night. In the morning, tracks mark where turtles had climbed out of the surf to investigate or to continue on to lay eggs, and literally every 3 feet of beach had a set of tracks. In the evening the rangers put on a turtle conservation program, and then, when a turtle is found laying, the rangers lead all 55 tourists to the turtle. Photography is virtual impossible.
The turtles lay their eggs at night, but flash isn't permitted A weak flashlight illuminates the turtle, but there's barely enough light to record an image on digital. Ironically, while flash isn't permitted, the Rangers nonetheless have their own impact upon the turtles. To facilitate viewing, the rangers place a stick or stake on either side of the nest, preventing the turtle from shifting its hind flippers back and forth (thus hiding the eggs) while people watch. This does not affect the turtles -- they truly do go into a trance-like state, but it is so frustrating, that they'll do that but they won't allow a flash to be used.
We had tipped our Borneo guide pretty handsomely, and he accompanied us to the turtle island. En route, I told him that I'd give him a nice tip if he could arrange for us to photograph turtles with flash. I told him I'd give the guards a really good tip or conservation contribution. I mention this in case there are other photographers hoping to photograph turtles laying eggs -- it didn't work for me! I hoped that after the 55 tourists saw their turtle and retired for the night, a ranger might allow me to film another turtle, later on, by myself. It simply didn't happen. Maybe, maybe more money would have worked, I don't know. But at any rate, the trip to the turtle island was interesting but a total zero for photography.
From Borneo we returned to Singapore, changed planes, and flew to Bali on our way to Komodo Island. In Bali we checked the tickets our agent had recently given us, and discovered that we only had ONE WAY tickets to Komodo. Further, our luggage allowance was 10 kilos -- about 22 pounds, and we each had 20 kilo bags of luggage and probably an equal amount of carry-on camera gear. Since we had no idea how large the plane was, we panicked, and for a second entertained just canceling the Komodo trip.
Things
got funnier, if you will. The next day, at the airport, we were
told that we'd have to buy our return tickets at the site of our
final destination, and that would be another hundred dollars or
so. We hoped our travel agent already had that covered, so we
decided to go. Our plane was bigger than expected, a big turbo
prop, and our carry-on gear actually fit overhead, once we removed
items to flatten the package. Luggage allowance was standard --
22 kilos. Our flight lasted almost 2 hours and while on the plane
we made friends with an American couple who were also traveling
to Komodo. When the plane landed, everyone had to exit the plane
with some going to a transit area. We followed the Americans,
who were met by their guide who promptly drove off, taking them
to Komodo. We had no one waiting for us, and we really thought
we were finished.
Fortunately, a security guard came up, saw our ticket, and told us that this was not our stop -- we were to board the plane and get off at the next stop -- 30 minutes away. Fortunately, too, the plane was still there! Had we missed that flight getting to Komodo would have required a 4 hour taxi drive and a 10 hour ferry trip to Labuan Bajo where one boards a boat and sails to Komodo. It was obvious that any guide expecting us would assume we had canceled and would not be waiting for us at LB.
Our guide did meet us in Labuan Bajo, and within an hour we boarded our boat -- a small fishing boat with a crew of 3 -- for our four hour cruise to Komodo. The Komodo experience ended up to be the highlight of our trip -- good shooting, great food, and a great boat crew and guide. The dragons, a huge monitor lizard that may grow ten feet long, are most easily seen around the ranger station, and we were told that the shooting was limited and boring. That simply wasn't true. In the mornings, just after dawn, the Komodo dragons leave their night-time dens and waddle-shuffle back to the station where, I guess, they hope to get scraps and where wild pigs often gather. Pigs and deer are their main prey, so it made sense for the dragons to congregate where the pigs gathered.
We
had tremendous luck with the Komodos on the beach as well, and
protected by the Rangers we were able to work closely with the
dragons for some pretty unique views. Komodo dragons are found
on three islands -- Komodo, where they are most common, Rinca,
which has a more diverse mammal population, and Flores, the main
island where a rare, scattered population still exists. We overnighted
at both Komodo and Rinca, staying in extremely rustic facilities
that were, nonetheless, far better than what I had expected. I
expected straw mats, bugs, and a pit toilet, but in both locations
we had a real bed, a toilet in the room, and bathing facilities.
Not bad --- if you didn't step in the foot-sized hole in the middle
of our room in Rinca!
Both locations had fruit bats, or flying foxes, and I tried, unsuccessfully, to shoot the foxes at night while they fed outside our cabin in Komodo. Roosting shots were not a problem, and at Rinca we were challenged attempting to photography foxes flying by our boat at dusk.
Our
last stop was a day and a half in Bali. We indulged, and treated
ourselves to a luxury resort outside of town, and on our full
day we toured several Bali temples, the reptile zoo, and rice
fields. The people of Bali were extremely friendly and we photographed
people harvesting rice, working the fields, carrying thatch, and
more. The climate, windy and cool despite its location close to
the equator, was a pleasant change. Bali has had a bad rap because
of the disco-terrorist bombings that killed a lot of Australian
tourists last year, which would indicate Bali is a hotbed of Islamic
terrorism. The truth is, Bali is mostly Hindu, and the terrorist
attacks were generated by a small faction or an outside group.
Komodo, and Flores, by the way, is mainly Christian (Catholic),
so if you have concerns about traveling there because of radical
religious elements, don't. Unfortunately our stay in Bali was
marred by one disaster. We left our binoculars underneath our
seat (to keep safely out of view while we toured temples) and
we forgot to retrieve them at the end of the day. By the time
we remembered the binocs were gone and everyone associated with
the car -- the driver, the owner, the new 'car renter', all were,
of course, innocent. Pretty frustrating to deal with at 11PM at
night!
Final thoughts: While we toured the area with the vague objective of perhaps leading a photo tour to the area, we decided we'll never do so. Borneo is certainly intriguing, and I'd love to go back and probably will, exploring some new lodges. But the bureaucratic headaches at Sepalok were more than I'd want to deal with again, and I can't imagine the grief a group with long lenses would experience. Komodo was absolutely wonderful (I didn't even mention the world-class snorkeling) but we did so well I don't know if I'd need to go back to shoot more images of the dragons. But Komodo was nice, and our boat crew and guide wonderful, and I would consider returning to Komodo for dragons and to dive -- the diving must be amongst the best in the world). Bali was nice, and culturally it offers plenty of shooting opportunities. I seriously would consider revisiting Bali should I ever return to Borneo or to Komodo, but I would watch my binoculars more closely. We made so many new friends in Singapore and the macro possibilities that the area offers really tempts me, and I'm sure we'll go back to Singapore at our earliest opportunity. By the way, Singapore Airlines is usually rated among, or at the top, Best Airlines in the world. The only airline that came close was the United Arab Emirates airline -- otherwise, Singapore beats any other airline we've flown on by a mile.
Our
boat crew in Komodo, with our guide Bona in front and the boat
captain to Mary's left. We ate basically -- Indonesian foods,
including fresh fish and squid, fantastic vegetables, and banana
desserts that were outstanding. We ate extremely well on the trip
and this somewhat simple fare, and its prodigious quantities,
was my favorite of the entire trip.
Regarding food, in Singapore we ate at the Long Beach Marina, which was a huge aquarium-like restaurant with live ... well, live just about anything -- shrimp, lobster, fish, mussels, etc. Imagine going to the Baltimore Aquarium and eating anything you saw ... that's sort of how we felt. Nonetheless, that meal was a real highlight of the entire trip, provided you don't mind eating very fresh fish!
A
friend of mine did a trip to this region years ago and his experience
was so bad he warned me not to lead a photo tour that I had agreed
to do with a company. He saw nothing except the dragons and the
orangs, and he felt that the wildlife photography was extremely
limited. I MUST DISAGREE. Besides the images shown, we did well
with many other species -- geckos, flying lizards, various birds
(including about 60 new species sighted), monkeys, and cultural
sites. That said, this was one of the toughest trips we've done
in a long time, as the heat and the jet lag when we returned home
really wiped us out.